Far-right in bid to avoid party ban

A Golden Dawn supporter makes a Nazi-style salute during a rally in Athens (AP)

Greece's extreme-right Golden Dawn party has drawn up plans for a back-up group called National Dawn in case it is banned.

MP Ilias Kassidiaris, the spokesman for Golden Dawn, announced the founding of National Dawn, a party that would provide a way to get round a possible ban.

"Patriots will have a party to vote for in the next election if (authorities) go ahead with the coup to ban Golden Dawn," he told a gathering of about 3,000 supporters.

Golden Dawn leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos, his deputy and four other MPs, a third of Golden Dawn's 18-member caucus in the Greek parliament, are behind bars for allegedly being part of a "criminal organisation".

Michaloliakos was arrested last September, days after a lefti-wing rapper was murdered by an alleged Golden Dawn member.